The Road to Erebor
by Queen under the Mountain
Summary: When Marida, a dwarf woman originally from the Blue Mountains (with no relation to the line of Durin) first set her eyes on one Thorin Oakenshield, she refused to accept anyone else as a possible husband, even though her jealous cousin, Kali, constantly tried to set her up with her brother, whom Marida never had an interest in.
1. Chapter 1

Marida's a character I play on Arwen Undomiel (part of the Family Tree), so I thought it would be interesting to write a fan fiction on how she first met Thorin (yes, Peter Jackson's version, since I've never cared much for the book version). I originally wanted to start a role play about this on AU, but I didn't think there would be enough interest in it (since there's not a lot of activity lately), so I thought I would write a fan fiction about it instead.

Chapter One

Marida was furious. Sometimes she had a temper to match that of her future husband, Thorin Oakenshield, but more on that in a bit. The reason that the dwarf woman who would one day become Queen of Erebor was so angry was that her jealous cousin, Kali, was at it again. She was trying to set her up with her brother, whom Marida never had an interest in.

"Will Kali ever give up?" Marida thought to herself, as she began to collect everything that she was feeling at that moment.

Kali knew as well as Marida did that there was only one whom the latter would accept as a possible husband, the future dwarven king, Thorin Oakenshield. Actually, if Marida could remember right, this was exactly when Kali seemed to acquire some sort of a resentment towards her, so was it possible that she wanted Thorin for herself? Though it was true that Thorin was quite attractive (even for a dwarf), Marida had claims on him first, so her cousin would just have to back off, but first, she needed proof if this was actually the case.

Marida's obsession with Thorin began a while back, when the family was invited to Erebor (which was her first visit to the kingdom beneath the mountain. For one of the smallest races of Middle-earth, dwarves sure had big kingdoms, probably to match that of their egos) to attend some sort of celebration, such as a birthday party. At the time, she just happened to overhear a conversation between one of the dwarves of Erebor and her very own father.

"Any luck on finding Marida a suitor yet?" asked one of the dwarves of Erebor. She wasn't really paying attention to their conversation, since something (or someone) caught Marida's eye at that moment, and she wandered off to investigate (or spy on) her new found obsession.

"No, she just doesn't seem interested in anyone, and I don't want Marida ending up like Kali, who always seems to want what she can't have, mostly other women's men." Responded Marida's father, a dwarf nearly as old as King Thror himself, but not quite.

"I don't think that will happen. She doesn't seem the type." reassured the dwarf of Erebor who first started the conversation. He noticed for the first time that Marida seemed to have wandered off. "Where did your daughter go? Erebor's a big place, and I don't want her getting lost, especially since she's not that familiar with it yet."

That could only mean one thing. Something (or someone) had caught Marida's eye, and there was a good chance that they would never hear the end of it (or at least not until she landed said individual). Unlike some of the other races of Middle-earth, dwarves were quite stubborn, and if the women of the race couldn't get the one they really wanted, they simply stayed single, since they would accept no substitute, and Marida was no different.


	2. Chapter 2

This next part will follow the events of the prologue to AUJ (and beyond), with my OCs thrown in.

Chapter Two

Somebody did catch Marida's eye, so much that she intended to follow him all around the mountain kingdom. To avoid being discovered and having to explain herself, she often found herself taking a different route, which resulted in her becoming hopelessly lost (since this was her first visit to the kingdom beneath the mountain, and Marida wasn't that familiar with all its nooks and crannies) and having to retrace her steps on countless occasions.

It was during one of these treks that she found herself just beyond the area where King Thror's throne was located, near the main entrance to Erebor, as she noticed that a very tall group of people were approaching the throne. By their stature and girth, they could only be Elves, possibly from the woodland realm of Mirkwood.

"Are they here to pay tribute to the King, or to trade?" Marida's father whispered to his dwarvish guide (a native of the kingdom, or else his daughter wouldn't be the only one to become hopelessly lost). He was whispering so that Marida and the dwarves assembled (there seemed to be an entire row of them on both sides of the throne) wouldn't notice their presence.

"I'm guessing it's the former." the guide responded. still managing to keep his voice below a whisper.

"What makes you so sure?" Marida's father asked, keeping a close eye on his daughter, to make sure that she didn't wander off again, forcing him to track her down in a kingdom that he wasn't that familiar with yet.

"Do you see that box that Thrain is holding (he's the second from the left)? It contains white gems, something that someone like King Thranduil (he's the tall blonde Elf in front) might value. Thrain is King Thror's son, and Thorin's father, who is standing to his right and the same one that your daughter has a bit of a thing for." the guide explained, not really paying attention to his words, or else he would have noticed that he already revealed too much.

"Wait... what?" Marida's father exclaimed, incredulous. This was the first time that his daughter had shown an interest in anyone, let alone anyone with royal lineage. He almost thought that Marida was a lost cause.

"You didn't notice? Why else do you think she wandered off? I didn't know that Marida had such an interest in the royal line of Durin." the guide answered, a little incredulous himself.

"She doesn't, or at least not until now." Marida's father said, seeming to see his daughter in a new light.

Although Marida continued to watch what was happening between the dwarves and the Elves of Mirkwood, she kept getting distracted, so much that she was starting to wonder if she was simply going crazy instead of what was actually going on. "What is wrong with me? Why can't I stop watching the dwarf dressed in blue?" Marida constantly kept asking herself. She was of course referring to King Thror's grandson, Thorin, third from the left.

"I didn't know you had such an interest in the royal line of Durin." asked a familiar voice as Marida seemed to come tearing around the corner, in an effort to avoid being seen by the one whom she had been admiring when Thorin seemed to look in her direction as a result of what was occuring between his father, Thrain, and Thranduil, the Elven King of Mirkwood. She nearly knocked both her father and the dwarf that had been acting as their guide through Erebor, so that they wouldn't end up hopelessly lost in such a vast kingdom.

"Royal line?" Marida asked her father (since that's who had asked the question), glancing back towards the throne, never suspecting that the one whom she had been admiring may have royal lineage.

It was their guide who seemed to clear up some of Marida's confusion. "The one whom you've been admiring is King Thror's grandson, Thorin."

"Thorin. Where have I heard that name before?" Marida wondered, as both her father and the guide exchanged glances that seemed to reveal to her that they knew more than they were letting on. The guide himself was a curiousity. Sure, Erebor was a big place, but why did they really need a guide? There were rumors that the guide was selected by Thorin himself, so was it possible he was trying to protect her in some way, which meant there was something else going on that Marida didn't know about, which seemed to trouble her deeply. Her father was trying to think of a way to respond to her question without making her even more suspicious.

"If the name seems familiar to you," he finally managed to respond, trying to both reassure his daughter and throw her off the trail of the real reason they came to Erebor in the first place, "just remember that many races of Middle-earth (including our own, since even Durin himself is said to have been resurrected seven times) do reuse names, so perhaps that's the reason." Marida's father finished, hopefully putting her troubles to ease, but somehow he doubted it, since his daughter could be quite stubborn, especially when something was troubling her.

Marida still looked troubled, but not by the familiarity of the name, but by the look her father had given their guide when they saw her reaction to the identity of her new found obsession. They obviously knew something that she didn't, and didn't want her to find out until the time was right. Then another thought occurred to her. Was this another set up?

Her father had tried on countless occasions to set her up with someone before, but they always fell apart when Marida learned of them, usually because she had no feelings whatsoever for the person she was being set up with. If this was indeed another one, this time it would be different, since it seemed to be the opposite effect (even if it was just recently), which seemed to make Marida even more nervous, since this was all new to her, and she didn't know how she would react if this was indeed the case.


	3. Chapter 3

This story will follow canon until the dwarves are exiled (which includes my OCs), and then become more original again. The few parts in the prologue to AUJ where it does show us what happened during this time will be in the story somewhere (but not necessarily where they show it in the prologue, and not in this chapter, since we have to get past the attack on Erebor first, which is what this chapter will focus on).

Note: You'll have to excuse me if I get some of the dialogue wrong, I'll correct it when I review the chapter on the AUJ EE DVD.

Chapter Three

It was quiet in the kingdom beneath the mountain, a little too quiet. Much like the calm before the storm. Now Marida, her father and their guide were on the ground level, with a good view of the front doors. You couldn't see them much from where they were around the throne area, since they were higher up, but once you were standing right in front of them, they were quite impressive.

From where they were standing, you could see the ramparts, and although you couldn't see who was walking around up there (but you could just barely make out their silhouette), you could hear them. Especially if they happened to be shouting to those assembled below, as if in warning to an impending attack.

The dwarves assembled included Thorin's councillor and advisor, Balin, when the first signs that something wasn't quite right in the kingdom beneath the mountain was felt by those on the ramparts, since they were closer to it than those down below where Marida and her companions stood. At first, there seemed to be a slow, rumbling sound, as if the start of a hurricane. but was anything but.

This time, it was Thorin who came tearing around the corner, in an attempt to give his councillor and advisor, Balin, instructions. "Balin, sound the alarm, do it now!" he cried, ducking back to avoid being incinerated at what turned out to be dragon fire.

"What is it?" Balin asked.

"Dragon." Thorin replied, before turning back towards the area where Marida and her companions were gathered below. "Dragon!" he cried again, this time in a much louder voice, so that the people assembled below could hear him.

When Marida heard Thorin's voice above on the ramparts, her heart almost skipped a beat, but this was the first time since coming to the kingdom beneath the mountain that she felt generally afraid, and she turned to their guide for answers and assistance.

Though dwarves knew about dragons, they almost overlooked their existence, who seemed to be able to smell gold. King Thror's love of gold of late had grown too fierce, it was almost like it was a sickness of the mind, and where sickness thrived, bad things happened.

When the guide told Marida this, he wasn't surprised that she seemed a little overly concerned that Thorin would have to deal with the same sickness, since he was the grandson of King Thror, and this dragon sickness seemed to thrive deep within the line of Durin. Even her father noticed her concern, since she seemed to glance back up towards the ramparts, where Thorin stood just moments before. Their guide didn't tell them this information to alarm Marida, but to tell them why a fire drake from the north was attempting to take over one of the greatest dwarven kingdoms of Middle-earth.

"Worry about it, later. Right now, we need to get somewhere safe." Marida's father told her, temporarily snapping her out of her reverie and back to what was actually happening instead of focusing on something that could happen.

Now it seemed that the entire army of Erebor (or a small portion of it) was now quickly advancing towards the front doors, in a futile attempt to face the enemy one on one. Thorin was at their lead. and when he seemed to glance in Marida's direction as he passed, she once again felt like hiding behind the throne of King Thror, but unfortunately, they were no where near the throne, and the pillars in this part of Erebor didn't offer that much cover. Not that Marida would have been able to do so, since Thorin must have advised their guide to keep her safe when he passed, since he seemed to grab her from behind when she got a little too close to the action, so to speak.

What she saw would have caused Marida to have nightmares about it for weeks, if not for her on going fascination with a certain future dwarven king. From where she stood, she could see the front doors, which were closed. but now there seemed to be fire coming in between them as Smaug, one of the great fire drakes from the north attempted to break in an confiscate the gold that continued to grow within the kingdom beneath the mountain, which obviously got Smaug's attention in the first place.

Thorin yelled something in dwarvish just before Smaug managed to break in, throwing dwarves aside as easily as if they were made of clay.

"That's not going to happen to me." Marida thought to herself as she tried to find a safer spot so that she wasn't in the dragon's path. While she was doing so, she seemed to have become separated from both her father and the dwarf that was appointed by Thorin himself as her personal protector that was also acting as their guide through Erebor, but this was nothing like the first time, when she simply wandered off when Thorin first caught her eye.

"It seems that your daughter has wandered off again." the guide told her father, trying his hardest not to alarm him.

"In the middle of an attack? This obsession of hers has gotten way out of hand." her father responded, not even considering the possibility that Marida was simply trying to get out of harms way, this had nothing to do with Thorin.

At least, not yet. In a futile attempt to get to a safer spot, Marida somehow found herself right in the dragon's path, in danger of being squashed by one of Smaug's massive limbs.

Just prior to that moment, she could have sworn that she heard a familiar voice calling out her name, a voice that often made Marida's heart skip a beat. "That can't be Thorin, can it?" she asked herself, wondering how the one dwarf that she had been following around Erebor could possibly know her name, unless of course, her suspicions had been correct all along, and this was another set up.

Marida didn't have much time to ponder this any further, since the next thing she knew, someone from behind her was pulling her to the ground, saving her from being squashed by one of the dragon's massive limbs, which seemed to miss her by inches.

Even though the dwarf that was acting as their guide through Erebor told Marida's father that she had simply wandered off again, he knew this wasn't actually the case. He just didn't want to worry him so that he would go in after her, and put them both in danger. He also knew that Thorin was in there somewhere, and that if he saw that his future queen was in any kind of danger (or anyone else for that matter), he would obviously try to save her if he could.

"If that doesn't make her stop cowering, I don't know what will." he muttered, forgetting that Marida's father was still in earshot.

"Are you talking about my daughter?" he asked, hopeful for the first time since they got separated, once again. "Did Thorin go after her?"

"Possibly, but I'm not certain." the guide answered, trying to reassure Marida's father. Even though Marida had no clue that this trip to Erebor was actually a "set up", Thorin did, so there was a good chance that he wouldn't allow his future queen to come to his kingdom for the first time only to be killed by a certain fire drake from the north.

Marida would soon learn how true the above statement was, since until Smaug stepped over the two of them (with a little bit of ducking on both Thorin and Marida's part) as if they were never there, she never would have saw for herself that it was indeed Thorin that had been calling out to her, since here he was now, behind her.

Up until now, every time Thorin would even look in her direction, Marida often felt like hiding and she didn't know quite where this came from. Though it was true that Thorin was quite attractive (even for a dwarf), it was something else. as if she knew him from somewhere. "That's not possible," she thought to herself, "we've never met before."


End file.
